Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has confirmed to Real Madrid that they should stop wasting their time chasing Pogba after the player told him he is happy at Old Trafford.
Speculation linking the midfielder with a move to the Bernabeu grew last week after the France international suggested it would be “a dream” to play for the Spanish giants.
Flames were fanned by newly installed manager Zinedine Zidane on Sunday with the latter inviting him to come to Madrid when his “Manchester experience ends”.
But Ole Gunnar Solskjaer insisted on Monday that he has sought clarification from Pogba regarding the context of his comments and having done so could assure United fans that their midfielder was going nowhere.
“He’s going to do his utmost here because he knows I’m very fond of him as a player and a person and he is important for us. There is no issue. He’s important here.”
Relations between Manchester United and Real Madrid have seen plenty of spikes. In 2007, then manager Sir Alex Ferguson was incensed by Real Madrid’s drip-drip pursuit of Cristiano Ronaldo.
Asked about Paul Pogba on Sunday Zidane had claimed few players “bring so much as he does” and added: “When his experience at Manchester ends why not come to Madrid?”
While Solskjaer refused to criticise Zidane directly there is little doubt there will be annoyance behind the scenes at Old Trafford after an attempt to destabilise an existing player.
“I don’t like to talk about other teams’ players of course but this is another challenge with international breaks,” said Solskjaer.
“Players are available all the time as well and it’s a different environment, more of a general talk. Paul is a very nice and polite man who answered a general question.
“Zidane is an icon in France, he is a fantastic manager, he used to be a fantastic player – I played against him myself – and he’s just politely answered that question.
“But Paul’s happy here, he’s going to be a big big part [of the future]. I have always said you would like to build your team round him and that hasn’t changed at all.”